Supporting Pre-Service Teachers in Becoming Reflective Practitioners Using Conversation and Professional Standards

Ondine Bradbury,Deakin University ,University Of Southern Queensland ,Monash University ,Angela Fitzgerald,Justen O'Connor

doi:10.14221/ajte.2020v45n10.2

Ondine Bradbury, Deakin University + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2020v45n10.2

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Abstract

A significant goal of teacher education is to support the development of reflective practitioners. This intention, however, is not easily achieved when after-the-fact recall and reporting are key features of pre-service teacher learning rather than critique and contemplation. This research reports on a small-scale pilot study evaluating a novel approach to help pre-service teachers develop reflective skills in order to both understand and address the requirements of the profession. The approach involved a set of Conversation Cards with a series of question-based prompts directly linked to the APSTs and designed to enhance reflective conversations. Focus group interview discussions unveiled the surprising ways in which the pre-service teachers used the question prompts, not only as tools for reflection but for planning lessons and preparing for professional discussions with mentors. This research provides insight into a creative and meaningful approach for integrating reflection, professional standards and classroom practice through professional experience.

Highlights

There is wide agreement that professional experience should be a reflective learning process (Craven et al, 2014; Hatton & Smith, 1995; Impedovo & Malik, 2016; Loughran, 2010)
In making sense of findings, this section provides insights that are framed around the research question: What were the opportunities and challenges a small cohort of first year pre-service teacher (PST) faced during their professional experience when they were supported in becoming reflective practitioners through a series of Australian Professional Standards for Teachers (APSTs)-informed prompt questions? The opportunities afforded and challenges faced by the PSTs in using Conversation Cards to scaffold their development as reflective practitioners while learning to teach are foregrounded in this instance as a direct response to this question
The intention of the Conversation Cards was to support PSTs and mentors to engage in conversations about the APSTs in a way that practically linked standards to everyday questions about practice

Summary

Introduction

There is wide agreement that professional experience should be a reflective learning process (Craven et al, 2014; Hatton & Smith, 1995; Impedovo & Malik, 2016; Loughran, 2010). This requirement has been identified as a means of garnering specific levels of proficiency in practice-based contexts in an informed and consistent manner While ideally this process is ongoing and reflective (Craven et al, 2014; Hatton & Smith, 1995; Impedovo & Malik, 2016; Loughran, 2010), realistically it tends to be summative in nature (Larsen, 2005). This suggests that the assessment of professional experience can often be viewed as a bureaucratic exercise (Connell, 2009), the mindset being that rather than focusing on the learning journey, the emphasis is on producing professional experience reports in which “all boxes [in this report] must be ticked” It is ‘problems’ such as this within ITE that highlight the technical and operational issues inherent in preparing future teachers as well as the theoretical and political undercurrents influencing practices (Connell, 2009; Southgate et al, 2013)

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